Wiper blade assembly



Sept- 28, 1965 GOLUB ETAL WIPER BLADE ASSEMBLY Original Filed Aug. 5. 1960 T# Na. A Il aa 62/ www Mf y E United States Patent O 3,208,091 WIPER BLADE ASSEMBLY Leo Goluh, Marblehead, Mass., and Max Zaiger, 49 Atlantic Road, Swampscott, Mass.; said Golnb assigner, by mesne assignments, to said Zaiger Original application Aug. 3, 1960, Ser. No. 66,382, now Patent No. 3,103,687, dated Sept. 17, 1963. Divided and this application Aug. 9, 1963, Ser. No. 300,973 3 Claims. (Cl. 15-250.36)

This invention relates to windshield wipers for vehicles and especially to improved wiper blades and constitutes a division of our pending application Serial No. 66,382, tiled August 3, 1960, now Patent No. 3,103,687.

The wiper assembly shown in that application comprises a primary yoke, secondary yokes supported thereby and a exibly lbacked wiper blade connected adjacent its ends to the secondary yoke so as to be conformable to a curved windshield. As disclosed in that application the flexibly backed blade is supported in channels in the respective secondary yokes, one of which has a latch which may be tilted to an out-of-the-way position to permit withdrawal of the blade from the secondary yokes without completely dismantling the entire wiper assembly.

It is customary to exibly support the back of the blade with a thin metal strip, the edges of which may be slidably engaged with the yokes and usually such strips are provided with slots with which the back of the blade is engaged by pressing an enlarged portion at the b ack through the slots, the blade being held in place by the expansion of the enlarged back after it is once thrust through the slots.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved combination of blade and backing strip and, in particular, an improved Way of securing the back of the blade to the backing strip.

As herein illustrated, the invention resides in an elongate squeegee having a body portion of substantially inverted triangular cross-section having a back and wiping edge, a pair of flanges extending transversely from the back, said flanges being symmetrical with respect to the center line of the back, a rib rising from the back, a bead along the edge of the rib, said bead containing notches at regularly spaced intervals, and a at flexible metal backing strip secured to the back of the body, said strip containing slots lengthwise thereof and bowed webs between the slots corresponding in spacing to the notches in the bead, said strip being secured by the bowed webs at the one side of the strip, so that the anges have contact with the other side, the rib between notches occupies and is constricted in the slots and the bead has contact with the other side.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a fragmentary perspective of a squeegee blade;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevation of the squeegee blade showing notches in the bead along the back;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the backing element as initially formed;

FIG. 3a is an end view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the backing element partially shaped for receiving the back of the blade, showing fragmentary portions of the blade;

FIG. 4a is an end view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the backing element constricted to hold the blade permanently secured thereto, showing portions of the blade;

FIG. 5a is an end view of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 6 is a section, to very much larger scale, taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5

Referring to the drawings, the blade (FIG. l) comprises an elongate body portion 10 of substantially in- CAD "Ice

verted triangular cross-section having at its apex a relatively thin wiping edge 12 and at its base a bead 14 connected thereto by a rib 16. A pair of transversely extend ing flanges 18-18 extending beyond the sides of the body portion between the back and the bead provide, as disclosed in Patent No. 3,006,018, dated October 31, 1961, guards for preventing the metal portions of the wiper mechanism which supports the blade from having contact with the surface of the windshield. At regularly spaced intervals notches 20 are formed in the rib and bead.

In accordance with this invention, the blade, which is comprised of an elastic material, for example rubber or plastic, is fixed to a thin hat flexible metal backing strip 22, the lateral edges of which are adapted to be slidably received within the secondary yokes at the ends of a wiper assembly comprising a primary yoke to which the secondary yokes are pivotally attached, as disclosed in our pending application Serial No. 66,382, iiled August 3, 1960, now Patent No. 3,103,687. The backing strip, as shown in FIG. 2, is blanked out of sheet metal with a plurality of longitudinally disposed slots 24 between which there are webs 26, the latter being spaced lengthwise of the strip by an amount corresponding to the spacing of the notches 20. The slots are wide enough so that the bead 14 can be inserted through them without compression.

As an initial step in assembling the blade with the backing strip, the bead is thrust through the slots so that the notches 20 are opposite the webs and so that the rib 16 is situated in the unconstricted slots 24. The backing strip is then squeezed edgewise in the plane of its surface to bring the edges of the slots into engagement with the rib and to bow the webs 26, at the one side, and crimp them in the spaces provided by the notches 20 in the bead. The bowed webs 26 hold the strip constricted on the rib with the portions of the bead between notches engaged with the strip at the same side as the bowed webs and the flanges 18-18 of the back of the body engaged with the opposite side of the strip. In practice, the webs, when fully crimped, are of approximately the same crosssectional size as the bead so that they do not project beyond the top of the bead.

The crimping of the webs provides for holding the edges of the slots constricted on the rib at the back of the blade without loss of strength in the backing strip itself and without impairing its flexibility.

This construction provides a very simple expedient for securely fastening the blade to the backing member so that it will not become detached to facilitate replacing the blade without the nuisance of having to press the elastic material through a narrow slot which often times is diicult and time consuming and provides a replacement for the wiper assembly which is relatively no more expensive to manufacture and sell than the exible blade itself.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A squeegee blade assembly comprising an elongate squeegee having a back and upstanding rib lengthwise thereof containing uniformly spaced notches, and a ilat flexible metal backing strip secured to the rib, said strip containing slots lengthwise thereof narrower than the unconstrained thickness of the rib through which portions of the rib between notches project, and bowed webs at the ends of the slots, said rib being constricted in the slots by the bowed webs, and said bowed webs occupying the notches and corresponding substantially in section to the ribs.

2. A squeegee assembly comprising an elongate squeegee having a body portion with a back and wiping edge, an attaching rib at the back extending lengthwise thereof and a bead along the top of the rib, said rib and bead containing uniformly spaced notches, and a thin flexible metal backing strip secured to the back of the body portion by said attaching rib, said strip containing slots lengthwise thereof narrower than the unconstrained thickness of the rib and bowed webs between said slots spaced at intervals corresponding to the spacing of the notches, the portions of the rib between notches being situated in the slots and held constrained by the bowed webs, the portions of the bead between notches having contact with the strip at the side from which projects the bowed webs and preventing movement of the body lengthwise relative to the backing strip and the back of the body having contact with the strip at the opposite side.

3. A squeegee assembly comprising an elongate squeegee having a body portion of substantially inverted triangular shape in cross-section with a back and a wiping edge, a pair of flanges extending transversely from the back, said flanges being symmetrical with respect to the center of the back, a rib rising from the back and a bead along the upper edge of the rib, said rib and bead containing notches at regularly spaced intervals, and a flat exible metal backing strip secured to the back of the body, said strip containing slots lengthwise thereof narrower than the unconstrained thickness of the rib, and bowed webs between the slots corresponding in spacing to the recesses, said strip being secured in the slots by the bowed webs at the one side so that the portions of the rib between notches occupy the narrow slots and the portions of the bead between notches have contact with the one side from which the bowed webs project and the anges have Contact with the other side and said bowed webs form abutments which prevent endwise movement of the body relative to the strip.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS Add 67859 10/ 57 France. 1,033,521 4/53 France.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SQUEEGEE BLADE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING AN ELONGATE SQUEEGEE HAVING A BACK AND UPSTANDING RIB LENGTHWISE THEREOF CONTAINING UNIFORMLY SPACED NOTHES, AND A FLAT FLEXIBLE METAL BACKING STRIP SECURED TO THE RIB, SAID STRIP CONTAINING SLOTS LENGTHWISE THEREOF NARROWER THAN THE UNCONSTRAINED THICKNESS OF THE RIB THROUGH WHICH PORTIONS OF THE RIB BETWEEN NOTCHES PROJECT, AND BOWED WEBS AT THE ENDS OF THE SLOTS, SAID RIB BEING CONSTRICTED IN THE SLOS BY THE BOWED WEBS, AND SAID BOWED WEBS OCCUPYING THE NOTCHES AND CORRESPONDING SUBSTANTIALLY IN SECTION TO THE RIBS. 